A big oil refinery with the characteristic cooling towers and furnaces dominating the skyline as seen in the distance from the highway. Above the structures, a thick white smoke rises into the otherwise clear blue sky.

Doing my part to combat climate change and move toward a fossil fuel free life

I hope one day soon to replace my gas furnace with an electric heat pump.

I have been doing a lot to reduce my direct burning of, and support of, fossil fuels over the past decade. However, I’ve still got a ways to go, and I am hoping to get to zero direct use of fossil fuels within the next five years.

First, I’ve been driving an electric car for more than six years and have paired it with home solar for some of that time while also paying extra to my utility for so-called “windsource” electricity. I have helped populate the world with two separate residential solar systems, a 5.5 kW system in 2010, and a 19.6 kW system in July of 2020.


I have done many, many other things to reduce my burning of fossil fuels, from never turning my home AC on until my inside temperature hits 80F, and setting it no lower than 75F, to setting my heat in the winter to 68F during the day and 62F at night to eating very little meat and no read meat to actively advocating for environmental awareness and action via this web site, on social media, and in virtually all of my face-to-face relationships to contributing to, and voting for, progressive green friendly politicians.

However, I am still using fossil fuels in my home, directly, and indirectly. This is primarily via my gas furnace, my gas hot water heater and my gas range. I am hoping to change that soon.

My gas range is at least 20 years old, and, frankly, a pain in the ass to keep clean because it is white. I want to get rid of it and replace it with a high efficiency electric range. However, this will require extra electrical wiring because my townhome was not originally wired with a 240-volt outlet in the kitchen 😖.

In fact, I’m planning to to replace my gas furnace and central AC ( which is indirectly powered by Xcel Windsource energy) and gas hot water heater— all of which I am very miserly with, especially my AC  — with an electric heat pump whenever my gas furnace kicks the bucket, it’s 25 years old, and possibly sooner.

Then, I want to get solar on my townhome and add a home battery pack — I first helped to get solar here at the cohousing community I live in, Highline Crossing Cohousing, on our Community Center and garages and that’s taken three years to do!

Finally, I am going to replace my gas range with a high efficiency electric.

The goal: To be 100% off of fossil fuels of ANY kind in my home and powered by 100% renewable energy. My car is already 100% solar-charged.

So, I will be 100% off of fossil fuels, hopefully within the next 5 years!

Additionally ==>
1) I have made sure that my 401k has ZERO investment in fossil fuel companies.
2) I recently switched my credit card and my checking account to a progressive, green bank that loans ZERO money to fossil fuel companies, Amalgamated Bank — you should check them out!
3) I am in the process of refinancing my mortgage and moving it from Chase, which loaned $280 billion to fossil fuel companies across the past four years 😖, to Amalgamated Bank, which is a Certified B Corporation, meaning they have met a set of stringent human rights and environmental stewardship standards.

I do not want a single penny of my money to go directly to fossil fuel burning and to fossil fuel companies who are systematically destroying life on earth, human health, and the present, and future, of global humanity!

Do you want your own money lining their pockets?